Subrata also answers on Tamim snub
Subrata Roy Sahara, the chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, said yesterday that he is interested in Bangladesh cricket, similar to how the company sponsors the Indian national team.
He was speaking at a press conference at a city hotel in connection with the launch of Sahara Matribhumi Unnayan Corporation Limited, a subsidiary of the group and its first venture in the country, which will develop the ‘New Dhaka’ project for which he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with local authorities, in his first visit to the ancestral country.
“The Sahara logo is seen on the jersey of Indian cricket team. Though I am not announcing it right now, but I can say it may be possible to see the same logo on the jersey of Bangladesh cricket team,” he said.
Despite a recent hitch in its relationship with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sahara is currently serving its third consecutive term as the official sponsor of Indian cricket team an association that began in 2001. In the last renewal of the contract in 2010, they outbid Bharti Airtel to bag the rights for Rs 3.3 crore per match.
Apart from the cricket team, Sahara also sponsors the country’s women’s cricket team, the men’s and women’s field hockey teams and was co-sponsor of the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi.
The BCB however couldn’t confirm any official approach from the company though it announced last month a request for quotation (RFQ) for the sponsorship rights of the national team.
Sahara is also the owner of Pune Warriors India, the Indian Premier League franchise that began playing in the world’s most popular Twenty20 league from the 2011 season.
After finishing at the bottom of this season’s IPL, there was much clamour about the franchise’s decision not to pick Tigers opener Tamim Iqbal in any of the 16 matches.
When asked why the star left-hander was neglected, Subrata said that the batsman would have been picked but had to leave the country before the last four matches.
“I told the team management to pick him as an opener in the last four matches, but he had informed that due to personal reasons, he had to leave the country,” said Subrata.
It meant that Tamim left before the May 8 game against Rajasthan Royals but the player has said that he took permission from the management to leave when two matches were left.
“I took permission from everyone in Pune Warriors and I left the team with two matches left. I let the BCB know of this as well and reapplied at the cricket board for the leave that I took at the time,” Tamim told over phone.
It was also learnt from a source that he took the leave and left India on May 11 after which two matches were left — against Rajasthan Royals on May 13 and against Kolkata Knight Riders on May 19.
Pune Warriors official Deep Dasgupta also cleared the air regarding reports of a bust-up between Tamim and the team management. “I don’t know why this is coming up. It is merely a rumour; he’s a good kid and we had no problems,” said the former India wicketkeeper.
The franchise won only four games this season, finishing at the bottom of the points table and has the unenviable IPL record of losing nine successive games.
-With The Daily Star input
